Classrooms are often overlooked spaces in schools. They are usually seen as places where students should sit quietly and listen to their teachers.
However, classrooms also play a vital role in teaching children, and their appearances play a huge part in how the students feel about the space.
Classroom doors are important because they provide a visual representation of the school environment.
If the door is not appealing or interesting enough, then the students may be less likely to want to enter the room.
This can have an adverse effect on learning. The door needs to be inviting so that students will want to come into the classroom every day.
One way to decorate a classroom door is by changing the design monthly, matching the theme with the month.
For example, during October, you could hang Halloween decorations up. During December, use Christmas decorations.
Another way to make a classroom door more attractive is by using different colors for each season.
In winter months, you could paint the door white, while in spring and summer, you could paint the outside of the door bright green.
If you’re looking for some new ideas for classroom doors during the month of January, here are 15 best ideas for classroom doors.
These designs will help you make your classroom more attractive and engaging.
So, let’s get into it.
National Events, Holidays, And Themes Of January
Before we start listing specific ideas that can be used to decorate your classroom door during January, we have decided to put a list together including every holiday and national event that takes place during this month.
We have also listed themes that are often associated with January.
By viewing this list alone, you can come up with some of your own ideas for classroom doors, getting creative with your designs!
Month
National Women’s Empowerment Month
National Hobby Month
Day
January 1st – New Year’s Day
January 2nd – National Science Fiction Day
January 4th – Issac Newton’s birthday
January 5th – National Screenwriters Day
January 17th – Martin Luther King Jr. Day
January 23rd – National Handwriting Day
January 27th – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s birthday
Themes
New Year’s Resolutions
Winter
Day and Night
15 Classroom Door Ideas For Classrooms
Now that you have gotten some ideas from our previous list, let us move onto the next section: classroom door ideas!
January means that Christmas is over, and a new year has officially begun. To celebrate this change, you could hang up this colorful classroom door.
This idea features a rocket ship, which represents us launching into the new year.
You could even add some stars and planets over a dark blue or black background, with the rocket being the main feature. Add the new year onto the door in a bold font (e.g., 2022) and you’re done!
2. ‘Winter Wonderland’ Classroom Door
When you think about winter, what do you picture? Snowflakes falling down, icicles hanging off of trees, and cold temperatures.
Well, if you were thinking along those lines, then this classroom door would fit right in! It features snowflakes falling down, as well as icicles hanging off of the tree branches.
Create a snowy landscape (or, rather, portrait) on a light gray background, and you’ll have an awesome classroom door.
3. ‘New Year, New Us’ Classroom Door
Another way to celebrate the beginning of the new year is by making sure that all of your students have new goals to work towards. This classroom door is perfect for accomplishing these goals.
You could ask your students what resolutions they have made for the new year, and ask them to write them down. You can then pin their notes to the board: this way, they will be reminded of their resolutions throughout the year.
Then, create a quote that says something like “We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, but we’re going to make it happen!” and display it in bold writing.
4. ‘I Have A Dream’ Classroom Door
Similar to the previous entry, this door design will focus on the dreams and wishes of your students. However, this door will be linked with Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous speech.
You could use a photo of him speaking, or create a portrait of King using craft materials. Then, write out his words in bold letters, and place it on top of the image.
Depending on the children’s ages, explain King’s story and legacy through images and words in a way that they will understand.
5. ‘Warm Up With A Good Book’ Classroom Door
When it is cold outside, sometimes one of the best activities we can do is curl up under a blanket with a good book. So, why not encourage your students to do the same thing?
Simply hang up a cute little sign above the door with the words ‘warm up with a good book’, and decorate with printed out book covers of children’s books.
Place a basket on the door handle, or near the door, and place a couple of books inside for the students to borrow and read.
6. ‘Welcome Back, Snowmies’ Classroom Door
Welcome your students back to class after winter break with this great classroom door. The word ‘snowmies’ is, of course, a word play on the word ‘homies’.
The word ‘snow’ should be written in a contrasting color to the others, making it stand out.
Then, add photographs of your students on the door, perhaps placing the photos inside snowflakes.
If you can think of another form of word play that can be used instead of ‘snowmies’, use that instead!
7. ‘Like Snowflakes, We are All Unique’ Classroom Door
As we’re sure you know, no two snowflakes hold the same shape. Every snowflake is different, just like the kiddos in your class!
With this title written in bold, white letters, place some inspirational quotes on the door that will remind your students how special they are.
You could even ask them to write down what special talents they have, and ask them to draw pictures of them performing these skills. You can pin these to the display!
8. ‘There’s Snow Place Like School’ Classroom Door
Here’s another fun phrase to place on your door display!
Word play is always fun for children to read, so by replacing the word ‘no’ with ‘snow’ in this popular phrase from The Wizard of Oz, you can create a fun display for your students to enjoy!
You can use a Wizard of Oz theme for the background, including characters such as the scarecrow and the tin man, but add snowflakes and snowmen to create Oz as a winter wonderland.
9. ‘Don’t Forget To Hand In Your Homework’ Classroom Door
Do your students need to be reminded to hand in their work at times? Remind them with this creative door design.
For this colorful idea, get all your students to make snowflakes by painting their hands white, and pressing their hands down on some blue paper or cardboard.
Cut around each handprint, and pin them to the door after creating a blue colored background.
10. ‘New Year, Clean Slate’ Classroom Door
This year, start off with a clean slate! To help your students remember this concept, create a chalkboard door.
Simply print out a chalkboard template, cut it out, and pin it onto the door with these words written above it.
Or, you could simply stick a real chalkboard onto the door: this way, you can use the chalkboard to write new messages for your class every day.
11. ‘Equality Through Handprints’ Classroom Door
In the 1950s and 1960s, Martin Luther King Jr fought for the civil rights movement. He fought for equality for all races, and for that, we remember him and his bravery.
It is so important to teach children from a young age that everybody should be equal, no matter what color their skin is, or where they came from.
Get your children to each create a handprint, using paint that matches the color of their skin tone. Then, pin all the handprints onto the door to celebrate diversity amongst your students.
12. ‘Chicken Little/Chicken Licken’ Classroom Door
Your class may or may not be familiar with the old tale of Chicken Little, or Chicken Licken. This is a story about a chicken who believes the sky is falling when an acorn falls out of a tree, and lands on his head.
This story is similar to the one of Sir Isaac Newton, who came up with the law of gravity when an apple, allegedly, fell on his head.
In honor of Newton’s birthday, you could use the story of Chicken Little/Chicken Licken to explain to your class how gravity works, and how Newton made the discovery.
On the door, you could recreate an image from Chicken Little/Licken, but replace the acorn with an apple, and then write facts about Newton for the children to read.
13. ‘All Around The (Snow) Globe’ Classroom Door
Get your students interested in geography by decorating your door with fascinating places from all around the world, using a snow globe!
Create a snow globe by cutting out a large piece of paper in a circle, and using other materials to create the base.
Then, inside the snow globe, you could make it look like a world globe by adding cut-outs of all the countries and continents of the world.
Encourage the children to try to find where you are on the globe! You could even place a pinpoint on the location of your school.
14. ‘Do You Want to Build A Snowman?’ Classroom Door
There is no denying the facts: most kids love Disney’s Frozen. So, why not take advantage of that? Decorate your classroom door with Frozen themed images and decorations!
Ask your class to create their own snowmen using art and crafts supplies, and then stick each one to the door.
Then, add a large image of Olaf from Frozen, adding a speech bubble with the words, ‘do you want to build a snowman?’
15. ‘Fun Facts About Snow’ Classroom Door
If you have a science lesson planned for your class, you might as well include some fun facts about snow.
Create a snowy backdrop for your door, and then add some facts about snow that may interest the children.
Add some snowmen and children wearing mittens. You could write the phrase, ‘What Do You Know About Snow?’ to add a rhyme.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, we hope this article has inspired you to get creative with your classroom doors. It can be difficult to know what themes and ideas to use during the month of January, so hopefully you have found inspiration here.
Hi, my name is Helena Waters and I was a teacher for 40 years before retiring last year.
During my time as a teacher I dedicated the majority of it to making classrooms as fun as possible, with educational parties, fun activities, and low cost entertainment that made the children excited about learning.
I taught children of all ages, from preschoolers to high school students. Now, with the pandemic having uprooted everything that children once knew about school and learning, I think that the need for my ideas is bigger than ever.
That is why I created School Sparks, a place in which I can write down and share all of my ideas on how to get students excited about going to school again. I hope that you’ll find some useful within a school setting, even at home too!
